August 2025, Bali to Seoul Edition

I’m wrapping up six months of my life in Bali. As everyone knows, life in Bali is like heaven. In this article, I share why I came to here, what my six months in Bali were like, why I’m leaving, and what’s next. If you’re feeling lost, this article may help you.

I came back to Bali this February, and it was my 5th time in 3 years. Most of the reason I returned was BURNOUT. I realized I was repeating this pattern: burnout → go to Bali → healing → back to reality → burnout again → return to Bali → healing → back to reality.

This time, my burnout symptoms were more serious than ever. My productivity hit rock bottom, I was anxious all the time, and I felt completely blocked. I really wanted to stop this bad cycle, so I decided to stay in Bali and break it once and for all.

In February, I went to a vinyasa yoga class. The teacher welcomed us with a pure, happy smile on her face. I was so miserable and sad, and just looking at her smile made me realize how poor my mental health was. I just wanted to find back my pure smile, my pure happiness. All the spiritual gurus say, “Inner peace and happiness are inside you, not outside.” But how do you actually find inner peace? I genuinely wanted to feel what that was like.

I was desperate. I wanted to try everything and Bali is the best place to shop for spirituality. I explored all kinds of holistic healing and future readings. I also completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training and sound healing facilitator courses. This is everything I tried:

Reiki, Balinese Energy Healing, Yoga, Breathwork, Inner Child Somatic Therapy, Chakra Healing, Sound Healing, A 3-Day Meditation Retreat With Thai Monks, A 10-Day Vipassana Meditation, Human Design, Contact Dance, Ecstatic Dance, Access Bars, Palm Reading, Numerology, Chinese Astrology Reading, Qi Gong, and Deep Tissue Massages.

The healing journey is truly painful and difficult. If you don’t feel it, you can’t heal it.

The first two months, I faced my trauma and discovered the root of my pain. The next two months, I sought liberation through movement—yoga and movement. The following two months, I focused on feeling more deeply through sound healing and energy work. And finally, I turned to readings like palmistry and astrology to look into my past and future.

During my yoga teacher training, I learned that we actually have three brains in our body: the gut, the heart, and the brain in the head. And the most accurate one is your gut feeling. But people usually trust the brain in the head more, even though many times it’s not that accurate.

Sometimes, without knowing anything, you can already sense red flags. Sometimes you don’t know exactly what will happen, but your intuition tells you, this is your path.

After experiencing so many techniques, I found that everything leads to one significant goal:

“Make your body more sensitive.”

All the treatments guide you to make your body more sensitive. They teach you to feel your breath, relax your body’s tension, and observe your thoughts. The more you practice, the more you can feel. You begin to realize how deeply your mind and body are connected.

What is the benefit of having a sensitive body?

You can make better decisions and recognize the signals your body intuitively gives you. You can keep your body in good condition and avoid making decisions driven by emotion. If you feel anxious, there’s a reason for it. This is our natural intuition or six sense. We need to find that reason. When the body is relaxed, you can more easily notice the moments when it becomes tense.

When I travel, I usually don’t lose anything. The only time before was when I lost my wallet and iPhone in Spain. But during this Bali trip, I lost so many things. I lost my right-side gold earring, my iPad pencil, and one of my favorite t-shirts I bought in Sydney during a family trip. The essential oil I received from my dear friend shattered by falling from a shelf. The flute I was gifted by my teacher was broken by someone’s step.

It felt strange to experience all of this, and I thought it must have happened to teach me something. Interestingly, everything happened after I finished my Vipassana meditation. I had to observe my feelings—when I felt sad or angry, I realized how deeply attached I was to these things. The more attachment and craving you have, the more misery you feel. All you can do is simply be aware of it.

To be happy and not miserable, Vipassana teaches you equanimity. I received all these happenings as lessons to teach me detachment and to remain in equanimity. And my pure happiness came when I finished the 10-day Vipassana meditation.

Everything comes and goes suddenly.

I understand my body and energy more than ever. I realized my personality can lead me to burnout so easily.

Perfectionism — setting high standards for myself.

Fast and fiery — burning myself out quickly.

My personality has a fire element that easily leads to burnout. When I get deeply interested in something, I throw myself into it completely, but once I lose interest, I often quit without finishing. I’ve always held very high expectations for myself, so the hardest mountain I’ve ever had to climb was myself. Because of this bulldozer-like nature, I tend to experience burnout easily. But on the other hand, I wanted to find a way to use this trait in a positive way.

So how can I make better use of myself? I discovered that some activities don’t drain my energy but instead nurture me—like learning new things, writing, or creating something. These days, I’m obsessed with building my personal website. I’ve found powerful momentum and driving energy there. I catch myself working on it every night, even when it’s late. I genuinely realized how much I love building and learning. Even when I’m tired, I still have energy for the activities that truly nourish me.

If you feel tired, that’s your body sending a signal. If you feel stressed, that’s your body sending a signal too. But I always pushed myself to get things done without listening to my body and that’s how I ended up burning myself out completely.

Now, I try to listen to my body’s signals more. If I resist doing something, I stop and ask myself why. If I sleep too much, I let myself sleep. No need to feel guilty. I check my energy level more often and use my energy to support me and make things easier.

Sometimes I used to resent it—why did my spiritual journey have to start so early?

However, now I take it as my blessing.

I’ve seen couples struggle when they are on different spiritual levels. If one partner begins their spiritual awakening after marriage, it can often lead to divorce or leave the other feeling frustrated.

Spirituality is another dimension of the world. I live in a three-dimensional world, but if my partner lives only in a two-dimensional world, it can become a tragedy.

In Yoga philosophy, there is the teaching of the five koshas. As I learned about them, I began to long for a partner with whom I could communicate through all five bodies.

The 5 Koshas (पञ्चकोश, Pancha Kosha) in Yoga philosophy and Vedanta refer to the “five layers (sheaths) surrounding human existence,” conveying the idea that we are not merely physical bodies, but a multi-layered structure composed of body → energy → mind → wisdom → soul. The outermost Annamaya Kosha is the physical body sustained by food; within it, the Pranamaya Kosha is the energy layer made up of breath and prana (life force); the Manomaya Kosha is the layer of emotions and thoughts; the Vijnanamaya Kosha is the layer of discernment and insight; and the innermost Anandamaya Kosha is the soul layer of unconditional peace and bliss. By purifying and integrating these layers one by one, one can ultimately experience the innermost essence, the True Self (Atman).

Yoga philosophy didn’t directly teach me to connect the 5 koshas with relationships, but I made this connection myself and desired it—to enjoy the same type of foods, to communicate through body, energy, and mind, to see and feel another dimension of the world together, and to truly be soulmates. This is my ideal, but it could also describe the right person to be my partner. The compatibility is what matters.

Sound healing has been one of the most powerful techniques I’ve practiced for myself. I’ve never felt comfortable with my breath. My breath trauma began in my last year of high school while preparing for the Korean SAT. I suddenly couldn’t breathe properly during my after-school study sessions. I went to the doctor with my mom, but physically there was nothing wrong. Everything came from my mind. Since that experience, whenever I become aware of my breath, I feel like I don’t have enough oxygen. That’s why sound healing was perfect for me—because unlike breathwork, you don’t have to focus on your breath.

I felt called to learn sound healing last year, and this year I dedicated myself to becoming a facilitator. After completing two training courses, I bought a full set of crystal bowls. But once I bought them, I didn’t enjoy their sound anymore. Imagining carrying them on planes felt like a burden, and I was afraid they might break if I took them outside. I even thought about returning them, and luckily I was able to sell them to my Japanese friend who trained with me.

But after I sold my crystal bowls, some interesting situations unfolded.

When I first bought them, I wanted to hold group sessions, so I put a lot of energy into finding venues and organizing events. I eventually booked a venue and invited two of my friends, including the Japanese girl, to hold a session together. But it was just two weeks before I was leaving Bali, which meant I could only host two sessions. For the first session, even though we were a group of three, I was the only one who promoted it and brought in the audience. My friends wanted to continue the sessions at the same venue afterward, and the venue owner came up with the idea of a Friday festival—combining sound healing with kundalini activation, Qi Gong, and astrology. After I left Bali, the venue began heavily promoting the third session with this Friday festival concept. I was happy for my friends, but at the same time, I felt disappointed. I had tried so hard and invested so much energy, but it felt like the Japanese girl simply stepped in and easily benefited from my efforts.

Even my friends who were running a retreat in Bali invited me to offer sound healing there. But since I had already left, I passed the opportunity to the Japanese girl as well.

When I sold her the crystal bowls, I intuitively felt that I was supposed to give them to her. She needed them more than I did, and she could share the sound more widely. Even though I felt disappointed that all of my efforts seemed to go to someone who didn’t put in the same effort, I also knew this is how the universe works. Sometimes, even if you don’t have the power, if the universe wants it, things will come to you. That’s what the Japanese girl attracted and manifested for herself.

And I know that for me too, there will be other opportunities—ones that come more easily and naturally, even without me knowing how. Most importantly, after selling the crystal bowls, I felt lighter and relieved. And I trust that, in time, the crystal bowls that truly align with my energy will come to me.

Are you experiencing burnout? Congratulations!

I know it’s harsh but it is what it is. Burnout is not the end, but an important turning point. Burnout is not simply a failure of willpower. It is your body’s way of sending you a clear message: something in your current way of living is no longer sustainable.

Think of burnout as an alarm system:

When burnout arrives, it means your energy is shifting. It is pushing you out of an old pattern and guiding you toward a higher version of yourself. Burnout may feel painful, but it carries an invitation: to pause, to listen, and to evolve into a truer alignment with who you are.

Burnout is a quantum leap opportunity. I experienced burnout in 2022, and it shifted my career into the blockchain industry. I burned out again in 2024, after achieving what I had really wanted. That forced me to find another goal for myself. It continued into 2025, giving me time to step back and rethink what was not aligned with who I am and what I do. The outcomes don’t show up while you’re recovering, but later, when you look back, you realize that burnout was the life-changing chance to upgrade your life.

Bali is a special island, especially Ubud. Whenever I needed healing, I came to Bali, and this beautiful island helped me a lot. Many healers live in Ubud. It means a lot.

Ubud is an amplifier. Its energy can accelerate your journey. I dream a lot when I’m in Ubud, even though in my usual life I dream only once a month or none, sometimes in Ubud I dream seven nights in a row.

I decided to leave Bali. Bali is perfect, but I felt my energy with this island has come to an end. I want to travel more—India, Peru, and beyond. I want some adventure, instead of staying in this peaceful island. My next destination will be India. I feel a bit scared, but also very excited to be there.

What I’m most grateful for is that I sense I’ve finally broken the burnout pattern.

A life where I don’t have to prove myself to anyone. I am already enough just as I am. Step out from the social pressure and be yourself.

I’m taking a break from work, but this time it feels different from before. At the beginning of 2023, being unemployed made me really anxious, and I felt inadequate—but this time, I feel at ease. Just because I don’t have a title or belong to an organization doesn’t change my essence.

I’ve grown to love myself more just as I am. I know that I can achieve anything I want, whenever I want.

Well, I don’t know.

If I only wanted to be rich, the answer would be easy. But my real question is, “What problem do I want to solve in the world?”, “What life do I want to live?” and that’s a very different answer from just how to make money. Meaning now matters more to me than just achieving.

I’ve decided to stop saying “I don’t know” and instead start asking about what I do know.

I know what I don’t want: I don’t want to sell my effort and precious time for someone else’s dream anymore.

I know what I do want: to do something aligned with my beliefs, something meaningful.

I want to travel and explore the world more.

So I will travel for one year. I don’t know where I will end up after that year (maybe the states), but I know nothing will be worse than now. At the very least, I will have more experience. Whenever I travel, I set a theme—and this time, the theme will be “spirituality.”

Spirituality is your own journey. No one else can walk it for you.

I want to go to India, Egypt, Peru, Buenos Aires, and beyond.

I wasn’t sure if I would stick to this initial plan. I’m happy to change and update it if any more tempting opportunities come my way. I’m ready for everything.

This newsletter was written by a past version of myself and does not represent me forever. Everything can change. I hold both responsibility and freedom in the present.